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Images courtesy of respective holders, Julia Christophers of ESL, Evil Geniuses and the QuakeCon organisation.
After rushing yesterday's Favourites article, which still contained a number of factual errors, today I had more time to doublecheck all data and avoid any major mistakes in my reporting or claims. I would like to apologize first and will then continue talking about the rest.
The favourites usually give you stunning and simply knee-shattering plays, but if you take a look at tournaments in a whole, it is often the underdogs that make your heart race or that give you those upsetting results you had been longing for. Will we see any of the Major Four players fall to any of the following players? I cannot predict that, neither can you, but the players listed below surely have the potential and means to get there. Usually it is just one slight detail that needs fixing which separates them with the tournament winners.
On another note, I know that there are more players to consider and I, for one, am not blindly shutting my eyes to any other player that might do something impressive or go further than he was supposed to. Definitely not. However, I could write long and extensive previews on all players, but I have to make a selection and select a few that have the biggest odds.
Had there been more players to pick, Dutch Vo0 would be the very next on my list, but I chose not to include him because of his very inactive past in regards to Quake Live and the mere fact that has been put in a group he will very likely not surpass. This and several other criteria have left me to not include him, but he only missed out narrowly. Without further ado, I give you my Preview of perhaps the most exciting people at any given tournament:
 Name: Alessandro "Stermy" Avallone Nationality: Date of Birth: 2nd January 1987Clan: Self-sponsoredLAN Results: 5-6th QuakeCon 2009 7-8th IEM S4 Global Challenge Dubai 4th DreamHack Winter 2009 6th IEM S4 European Championship 7-8th IEM S4 World Championship 5-8th DreamHack Summer 2010 5-6th ESWC 2010  QuakeCon 2010 |
The Italian Stallion. Probably one of the most recognizable faces in eSports and has had his ups and downs across the years, winning huge at both the CPL PainKiller World Tour and as a FIFA player in the CGS. His transition or rather, return, to Quake was highly anticipated as everyone was fully aware of the solid and highly reliable aim he possesses. Yet, unlike others in this list, he has not built his entire gameplay around that single, albeit often very well-executed trait, as he has adopted a more slow pace to his game, trying to play very conservatively and trying to make as few mistakes as possible. He is probably the one player who has come the closest to the Major Four and his results reflect that as well, always falling just short of podium spots and wins against the dreaded legends. His performance at QuakeCon 2010 was one that left many followers-on inspired and with jaws close to their knees. He seemed to play unleashed and comfortably beat the American All-star, Shane "rapha" Hendrixson, in a straight-up match. He went toe-to-toe with both Alexei "Cypher" Yanushevsky and the Russian master, Anton "Cooller" Singov, barely missing out on a Grand Final spot. He has now arrived at a crucial point in his Quake Live career. In Dallas, Texas he has put himself right below the others and if he continues the same trend, he will be looking to topple his next nemesis and warrant himself a spot amongst the truly greats. His recent form online might suggest something else though, and the internet connection in Italy has been faulty in recent weeks, all pointing towards a perhaps not fully in-shape Alessandro "Stermy" Avallone. If he could somehow implement more risks in his gameplan, to step out of his comfort zone while in or out of control and try surprising them with his strong aim, that should leave his opponents in disadvantageous situations and would flavour his persona with more dynamism. And if you need a reminder of what an aggressive Stermy looks like, just check his last-minute comeback against Quake 3 legend, Pelle "fazz" Söderman, on Furious Heights. He will not have it easy in the Kaspersky DreamHack Winter Group of Death, though, as he is yet to beat the Mousesports player in a Quake Live tournament and facing Sander "Vo0" Kaasjager will bring back memories of PainKiller. Although the game has changed and the ball should be in the former FPO player's corner, the aggressive rocket-based style of the Dutchman might prove perilously dangerous for his chances at advancing. If he shows a strong and fit form, he might go really far, but then he will need to immediately topple rapha. Should he do that, everything is possible for the Italian, although not nearly as probable. Ranking: MSI BEAT IT: TOP5 |
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 Name: Richard "noctis" Gansterer Nationality: Date of Birth: 20th July 1986Clan: Clan: LAN Results:  IEM S4 Global Challenge GamesCom IEM S4 Global Challenge Dubai 9-12th IEM S4 European Championship 5-8th DreamHack Summer 2010 7-8th ESWC 2010 5-8th IEM S5 Global Challenge GamesCom |
Another example of the bad luck that badgers some of the more talented players out there. The Wiener came out of the gates flying and was one of, if not the very first, online strong suits of the new Quake Live game, racking up win after win and doing well in all ESL or otherwise organized events. He reaffirmed that by placing in the TOP 3 in his first two consecutive LAN showings. Things were looking bright for the Austrian. Lacking proper support quickly diminished his chances at doing well internationally and he could not attend all events, losing out on valuable early-on experience at the cutting edge of Quake Live. His form dropped significantly and after being considered to be a player who would always have an outside chance of winning, he turned out to be just another place filler, always getting so far as to make it to the Playoffs, but in all the matches against the Major Four, he would fall easily and was seemingly miles behind them in terms of mental profoundness and keeping his game fresh, even late and deep in tournaments. In the mean time, he has joined up with the prominent British organisation, Reason-Gaming, and this serves two purposes. Finally he joins up with an organisation that has been around for ages and given their current business plan, they are expected to be around for quite a bit longer. Moreover, the stability of having an organisation that can send you to all the LANs you want will give you more peace of mind and takes a huge load off, giving Richard "noctis" Gansterer more time to focus solely on his main task, perfecting his Quake Live game. An in-form noctis could easily hang with the best in terms of innovative play and his biggest flaw at the recent tournaments has been his aim, which is far from bad, but if he cannot bring anything new to the table, a slight worse or equal aim will never be enough to put you over the top if all else fails. His group at the Kaspersky DreamHack Winter 2010 event will not be easy, to say the least, but if he ever was going to prove that he is on the up and up, it has to be now. Shane "rapha" Hendrixson's form will be questionable, as his recent ZOTAC Duel Cup #59 performance showed that he is far from the well-oiled champion he was one year ago. The other American in the group, Evil Geniuses player Tim "DaHang" Fogarty will always, however truthful or not it may be, be counted as the second-class American representation at any world event and if the Austrian can cut it close against the number one, then the playing field is completely open against the arguably number two. So all in all, hardly easy, but easily doable. Ranking: MSI BEAT IT: TOP8 |
| Page 2: Spart1e, strenx, DaHanG |
Italian
Austrian
Reason-Gaming
The guy is sick online just can't copy over his form to the LAN environment ;((
edited 2010-11-24 22:03:03
however at lan those kind of players actually care and killsen will get sat down :D
not saying that stermy is a big favorite or anything of course, but i wouldnt rate him below killsen
PS: Player names are Av3k and DaHanG. I haz spoken! :{
DH:W 2010, bokstavligt winter haha
Seems a bit strange but looks like it, I don't think he is training hard like a mad man to become nr°1 thats the main difference between him and other top QL players ;)
edited 2010-12-08 12:24:40